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#1 2008-11-23 12:12:39

Austin Shadduck
Member
From: New York, NY
Registered: 2008-09-21
Posts: 38
Website

Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

With access to the internet and a number of reputable online retailers it has become fairly simple to purchase a shakuhachi. Before websites such as shakuhachi.com, mejiro-japan.com, etc., how were Americans able to purchase a shakuhachi? Were there stores or magazines in the United States? Did American professionals purchase from their teachers or gain connections while in Japan and order from makers that they may have discovered? Did cultural exchange programs or cultural centers (like the Japanese Institute of America) help those with interest purchase an instrument? Did touring Japanese musicians offer advice on purchasing a shakuhachi?

I appreciate any feedback, especially if you have names of stores, people or organizations and the years when Americans were able to purchase shakuhachi from them. I am sorry to limit this topic to U.S. Americans, but I am working on a paper regarding the history of the shakuhachi in the U.S.


“His first, last and only formal instruction for me was embodied in one word: observe.” -Billy Strayhorn on Duke Ellington

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#2 2008-11-24 08:55:32

MikeL
Member
Registered: 2008-05-18
Posts: 55

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

I was fortunate to have been introduced to an American maker and teacher,
David Duncavage, in the early 1990s. Bought two shakuhachi that I
still play to this day.

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#3 2008-11-24 09:55:51

Yungflutes
Flutemaker/Performer
From: New York City
Registered: 2005-10-08
Posts: 1061
Website

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

Hi Austin,
I think the only way someone would've had access to shakuhachi in America before the internet was through a shakuhachi teacher, a Japanese antique shop or a flea market in New York City.  Ronnie Seldin told me a story that one of his students found a Yokoyama Ranpo in a flea market in NYC for $25.

Monty says he started by putting an ad in a Whole Earth Catalog in the 1970s.

I was introduced to the shakuhachi around 1993 when it was used in the orchestra pit of a show I was working on as a performer.  The player was Yukio Tsuji. When I asked where I could get a flute, he sort of laughed. He said even if I had the money, I would not be able to find a good one. Then I tried his flutes and could not get a sound. One of them was actually a Ranpo. I quickly gave up the thought. A few months later, we were on a bus and truck tour of that show through the Balkens.  Somewhere between Macedonia and Croatia, I looked to the back of the bus and saw Yukio sanding the bore of a shauhachi with a rod! I said, "You make these things!" His reply went something like, "Well, it may take ten years but I'll eventually have a good one". 

When the tour ended, the first thing I did was go the the flower district in NYC to get some bamboo. That's when my love affair with shakuhachi making began.

A year or two later, I got a computer, got on line and found Monty and Ken. After a few more months and countless pieces of bamboo, I started feeling good about what I was making. Then I bumped into Yukio on an East Village street corner one day and showed him my latest flute. He started playing and didn't stop for a few minutes. When he opened his eyes, he said, "Man, this is better than what anyone would find in a World Music shop"! These were not modern two-piece Jiari flutes but what are now known as my all natural Earth Models. I then took my flutes to Village Music in Greenwich Village and World Music in the East Village. All the flutes were sold in a few weeks. So I started making just for them. This was around 1994 - 96. But, I realized that selling through a shop did not help the musician. The shops made a 100% profit. The owners would ask how much I wanted for a flute and doubled the price. That's when I started selling on line.

MikeL wrote:

I was fortunate to have been introduced to an American maker and teacher,
David Duncavage, in the early 1990s. Bought two shakuhachi that I
still play to this day.

Mike, I've played David's flutes. You're a lucky guy!

Hope this helps, Perry


"A hot dog is not an animal." - Jet Yung

My Blog/Website on the art of shakuhachi...and parenting.
How to make an Urban Shakuhachi (PVC)

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#4 2008-11-24 10:08:59

Austin Shadduck
Member
From: New York, NY
Registered: 2008-09-21
Posts: 38
Website

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

Thanks for the replies so far. Perry, I'm so glad you shared that story because I was about to e-mail you and ask how you got started as a shakuhachi maker!


“His first, last and only formal instruction for me was embodied in one word: observe.” -Billy Strayhorn on Duke Ellington

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#5 2008-11-24 11:34:54

Lorka
Member
Registered: 2007-02-27
Posts: 303

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

Hey Perry,

That is an interesting story, thanks for sharing.   So did you start making flutes before you knew how to play?  Or did you do both around the same time.  Seems strange to make first, and then learn to play, but then again, understanding how and why the flute does the things it does must give tremendous insight when playing.


Gravity is the root of grace

~ Lao Tzu~

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#6 2008-11-24 20:54:42

Yungflutes
Flutemaker/Performer
From: New York City
Registered: 2005-10-08
Posts: 1061
Website

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

Hey Matt,

Lorka wrote:

Hey Perry,

That is an interesting story, thanks for sharing.   So did you start making flutes before you knew how to play?  Or did you do both around the same time.  Seems strange to make first, and then learn to play, but then again, understanding how and why the flute does the things it does must give tremendous insight when playing.

Both at the same time.

I basically started making so that I could have a shakuhachi to play. Yukio's modern Japanese flutes were valued around $5,000 but he also had jinashi flutes that he made. There was no way I could afford a $5,000 flute at that time, so my hopes were to make a flute that was as good as the Jinashi ones he had. 

Around the same time, I started making a show with my group SLANT and we wanted the sound of the bamboo flute in a scene called Buddah Blues. So I was also trying to make a flute that would work in a  garage band setting. It had to work with an electric guitar and drums. Needless to say it was quite a challenge. I think it took about six months but I eventually produced a nice (enough) flute and developed enough technique to play it by the time the show opened. I learned a lot during that process. I just kept taping and redrilling holes until the flute worked in pitch and then I would run down to the flower district to get a new piece of boo so that I could make a better flute for the next rehearsal. I learned very fast that I had to stick with the same aspect ratios in order for the holes to work in the same way. I have to hand it to the guys for putting up with all my out of tune playing!

Austin Shadduck wrote:

Thanks for the replies so far. Perry, I'm so glad you shared that story because I was about to e-mail you and ask how you got started as a shakuhachi maker!

In retrospect, I probably made these flutes really sharp in order to be able to play in tune at my level. That was just the beginning. Once I started studying the music, which was about four or five years later, I saw how little I knew about how the flute should work. I mean, I thought I was pushing the instrument with my own idiosyncratic style of playing but I would've never discovered Ou San or Koro Koro on my own! It wasn't until I was able to assimilate the lessons into the making that I began to feel like a shakuhachi craftsman. This was about five or six years into it. These days, I'm amazed that there are moments when it still feels like the first time smile

Best, Perry


"A hot dog is not an animal." - Jet Yung

My Blog/Website on the art of shakuhachi...and parenting.
How to make an Urban Shakuhachi (PVC)

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#7 2008-11-25 08:43:14

Kyle Kamal Helou
Member
From: Japan/Lebanon
Registered: 2008-10-16
Posts: 25
Website

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

Hi Austin,

I will get to how and where I bought my first instrument, but let me first tell you how I came across the name Shakuhachi.

I had my first experience with the name "Shakuhachi" through my Korg M1 synthesizer that I used for recording music since 1990.  It wasn't anything like the real instrument, but nonetheless, it sounded different from the flute sound in my M1.  Fast forward a few years, and I was walking in a mom and pap music store in East Philadelphia, forgot the name but it could be George's music, and I saw a dark bamboo flute in one of the window display cases.  I asked the staff there what it was, and he said "it's a Shakuhachi".  "How much", I asked.  "35$", he said.  So I bought it.  The instrument was certainly not a pro-level instrument, and the hole placement was incorrect.  But, it had an utaguchi and five finger holes, four in the front and one in the back.  That instrument got me blowing on it for about a year or so, until I was able to make a solid sound on both octaves.  A year or so later, I was walking with a friend in Japan town, San Francisco, and, after having seen a real Shakuhachi at a Japanese music concert in Baltimore, I recognized the instrument in the window display case of several Japanese Antique shops there.  I bought my first real Ji-nashi Shakuhachi from an antique shop there for 100$.  There were a few other shops selling more expensive Ji-ari ones, but I could not tell the difference between either of them, and just went for the cheapest one.  That lasted me a few years.  Then, six months into my formal lessons with my teacher in Princeton NJ, Steven Rowland, he told me it's time to get me an instrument that is in tune, and that's when his teacher, Ralph Samuelson, recommended John Singer, from whom I got a wonderful instrument that I played for close to 10 years, all the way up to the Jun-Shihan licensing.  I will pass it on to my son when he is ready for it. 

One a last note, when I came to Tokyo in 2001, I started lessons with my teacher here in Tokyo Kinya Sogawa, who also agreed to teach me how to make the instrument.  We made several Ji-nashi instruments together.  Eventually, we started making a 1.8 Ji-ari, and in April 2005 I started my Karate training on the Karate Instructor Training Program of the JKS, which lasted three years.  I continued review lessons with him during that time, but only in playing and not making.  After my graduation, I went for a lesson just this past August and lo and behold, he had completed that Ji-ari for me and I have been playing it since.

Hope that helps.

Faithfully.
Kyle Kamal Helou.

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#8 2008-11-26 17:31:55

Yungflutes
Flutemaker/Performer
From: New York City
Registered: 2005-10-08
Posts: 1061
Website

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

Kyle Kamal Helou wrote:

...Then, six months into my formal lessons with my teacher in Princeton NJ, Steven Rowland, he told me it's time to get me an instrument that is in tune, and that's when his teacher, Ralph Samuelson, recommended John Singer, from whom I got a wonderful instrument that I played for close to 10 years, all the way up to the Jun-Shihan licensing.  I will pass it on to my son when he is ready for it. 

One a last note, when I came to Tokyo in 2001, I started lessons with my teacher here in Tokyo Kinya Sogawa, who also agreed to teach me how to make the instrument.  We made several Ji-nashi instruments together.  Eventually, we started making a 1.8 Ji-ari, and in April 2005 I started my Karate training on the Karate Instructor Training Program of the JKS, which lasted three years.  I continued review lessons with him during that time, but only in playing and not making.  After my graduation, I went for a lesson just this past August and lo and behold, he had completed that Ji-ari for me and I have been playing it since.

Hey Kyle, How does your Sogawa flute compare with the one you got from John?

Best, Perry


"A hot dog is not an animal." - Jet Yung

My Blog/Website on the art of shakuhachi...and parenting.
How to make an Urban Shakuhachi (PVC)

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#9 2008-11-27 10:20:34

Kyle Kamal Helou
Member
From: Japan/Lebanon
Registered: 2008-10-16
Posts: 25
Website

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

Hi Perry,

Good question.  I'll try to be brief.

Essentially for a beginner, which is what I was when I got my first instrument from John, as long as one is getting an instrument recommended to them by their teacher, I would say that they cannot go wrong.  And I certainly didn't.

There are quite a few areas to compare both instruments.  Some of the ones that stand out the most are, I would say, the overall balance of the instrument and the robustness in sound generation.

First, however, it is important to note that instruments do not have to be in perfect balance in order to be played beautifully and in pitch.  The instrument I got from John is a superb pre-1940 instrument and would be considered an antique.  Many great instruments made around that time were not perfectly balanced, but could still be played in pitch and produce beautiful sounds.  That required a skill that I acquired by playing that particular instrument.  Some fingerings required a bit of meri in order to play them in pitch, while others did not require as much.

Learning to play the Shakuhachi using that particular instrument for about 10 years, and play it in pitch, either with other instruments or solo, was the challenge that I needed to overcome.  Jaw and lip angling/adjustment was vital in order to establish the correct pitch and to train my lips and jaw, my ears and fingers, all working together to produce and recognize the correct pitch, eventually without the use of an electronic pitch meter. 

That also helped me in being able to pick up just about any instrument that my hands can hold and play it in pitch within a short amount of time.

The Sogawa instrument, comparing it from that aspect, is flawless.  The fingerings respond similarly to the same amount of breath throughout the octaves of the instrument.  Also, it works that way from the moment I pick it up.  I noticed that my antique instrument and many of the other antiques I have come to collect take at least 10~15 minutes to warm them up...(strange, but I can only attribute this to the materials used in making the ji, which might have been slightly different back then...but that is only a speculation. maybe you can elaborate more on that in another post.)

The other major difference in Sogawa Sensei's instrument is its ability to handle any amount of breath volume released at any velocity and its accuracy in producing the sound in pitch without a flinch.  Robustness of sound is vital to some of the pieces I play, and while I have learned to generate similar robustness using my antique instrument, Sogawa Sensei's instrument handles my playing like an iron hot knife cutting through butter.  (Sorry for the cliche, but that's the best way to describe it!) Not to forget some of the third octave notes that I am able to play with ease using my Kinya instrument that I felt had to be forced out of my antique instrument.

Thank you for the question and hope my answer helps.

Kyle.

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#10 2008-11-28 13:46:40

Yungflutes
Flutemaker/Performer
From: New York City
Registered: 2005-10-08
Posts: 1061
Website

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

Kyle Kamal Helou wrote:

Hi Perry,

Good question.  I'll try to be brief.

Essentially for a beginner, which is what I was when I got my first instrument from John, as long as one is getting an instrument recommended to them by their teacher, I would say that they cannot go wrong.  And I certainly didn't.

Great advice. This is my number one advice for anyone ready to start studying seriously.

First, however, it is important to note that instruments do not have to be in perfect balance in order to be played beautifully and in pitch.  The instrument I got from John is a superb pre-1940 instrument and would be considered an antique.  Many great instruments made around that time were not perfectly balanced, but could still be played in pitch and produce beautiful sounds.  That required a skill that I acquired by playing that particular instrument.  Some fingerings required a bit of meri in order to play them in pitch, while others did not require as much.

Agreed! Most of the experienced players I know feel pitch is secondary to tone color and response of the flute. But, most of them are of the Kinko and Dokyoku schools. Perhaps Minyo or Tozan players feel differently?

The Sogawa instrument, comparing it from that aspect, is flawless.  The fingerings respond similarly to the same amount of breath throughout the octaves of the instrument.  Also, it works that way from the moment I pick it up.  I noticed that my antique instrument and many of the other antiques I have come to collect take at least 10~15 minutes to warm them up...(strange, but I can only attribute this to the materials used in making the ji, which might have been slightly different back then...but that is only a speculation. maybe you can elaborate more on that in another post.)

I have noticed that flutes do indeed react to the temperature changes. However, not all old timers used the same Ji mixture formula nor do modern makers. In addition, each piece of bamboo is different in age, density and weight so it's difficult to say why one flute needs more warm up than another. Although, I have noticed that very heavy flutes need more time to warm up.

The other major difference in Sogawa Sensei's instrument is its ability to handle any amount of breath volume released at any velocity and its accuracy in producing the sound in pitch without a flinch.  Robustness of sound is vital to some of the pieces I play, and while I have learned to generate similar robustness using my antique instrument, Sogawa Sensei's instrument handles my playing like an iron hot knife cutting through butter.  (Sorry for the cliche, but that's the best way to describe it!) Not to forget some of the third octave notes that I am able to play with ease using my Kinya instrument that I felt had to be forced out of my antique instrument.

I think Kinya is dynamic, powerful and eclectic player. He requires a flute that can handle any thing thrown at it at any moment, and he makes his flutes accordingly. I am not saying that the maker of your antique flute was not a great player, just a different player. 

Thank you for the question and hope my answer helps.

Kyle.

Thanks, I just wondered about your flute as I've played two Kinya commissioned flutes in the past few years. I loved them. But, I'm sure that was due to the fact that I studied under Kinya and thus seek the same sound and playability. Since you also study under Kinya, do you think this is your disposition also? Or do you just think you have a fantastic instrument? smile

Best, Perry


"A hot dog is not an animal." - Jet Yung

My Blog/Website on the art of shakuhachi...and parenting.
How to make an Urban Shakuhachi (PVC)

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#11 2008-11-29 07:39:32

Kyle Kamal Helou
Member
From: Japan/Lebanon
Registered: 2008-10-16
Posts: 25
Website

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

"Thanks, I just wondered about your flute as I've played two Kinya commissioned flutes in the past few years. I loved them. But, I'm sure that was due to the fact that I studied under Kinya and thus seek the same sound and playability."

Hi Perry,

I know what you mean by that, and yes to some extend I feel the same way, and we are both really lucky to be his students.  I continue with review lessons about once or twice a month, depending on both of our busy schedules, and he never ceases to amaze me!  But in trying to be objective, I would also add the following.

Students of the Shakuhachi, often have no other source for Shakuhachi sound except their teacher's.  Furthermore, as you know was the case in the old days, and still is to some extend nowadays, players made their own instruments, and also their students' instruments.  That is a luxury that we often do not find these days.  And the conclusion I have come to is:  To duplicate the sound of my teacher I ultimately need an identical instrument to his, and when I use my Kinya Sensei Shakuhachi, I feel that I have just that.

Best regards,

Kyle.

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#12 2008-11-29 16:51:03

Yungflutes
Flutemaker/Performer
From: New York City
Registered: 2005-10-08
Posts: 1061
Website

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

Kyle Kamal Helou wrote:

"Thanks, I just wondered about your flute as I've played two Kinya commissioned flutes in the past few years. I loved them. But, I'm sure that was due to the fact that I studied under Kinya and thus seek the same sound and playability."

Hi Perry,

I know what you mean by that, and yes to some extend I feel the same way, and we are both really lucky to be his students.  I continue with review lessons about once or twice a month, depending on both of our busy schedules, and he never ceases to amaze me!  But in trying to be objective, I would also add the following.

Students of the Shakuhachi, often have no other source for Shakuhachi sound except their teacher's.  Furthermore, as you know was the case in the old days, and still is to some extend nowadays, players made their own instruments, and also their students' instruments.  That is a luxury that we often do not find these days.  And the conclusion I have come to is:  To duplicate the sound of my teacher I ultimately need an identical instrument to his, and when I use my Kinya Sensei Shakuhachi, I feel that I have just that.

Best regards,

Kyle.

Thanks for your thoughts Kyle. And, sorry for hijacking the thread Austin!
Namaste, Perry


"A hot dog is not an animal." - Jet Yung

My Blog/Website on the art of shakuhachi...and parenting.
How to make an Urban Shakuhachi (PVC)

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#13 2008-11-30 01:02:33

Austin Shadduck
Member
From: New York, NY
Registered: 2008-09-21
Posts: 38
Website

Re: Where to Buy a Shakuhachi in the U.S.: 1960s - 1990s

Yungflutes wrote:

Thanks for your thoughts Kyle. And, sorry for hijacking the thread Austin!
Namaste, Perry

No problem, I'm enjoying the stories so far! I just hope that more people respond.


“His first, last and only formal instruction for me was embodied in one word: observe.” -Billy Strayhorn on Duke Ellington

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